Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-07-10

was quantity of promiscuous bedding
and other rubbish.
"I wonder if l am in my berth or in
somebody else's?" said he.
He felt in his waIstCOat pocket, and
found there a box of wax vestas. These
yestas were about two inches long, and
would burn for five minutes. He lit one,
and hunted for the number OF the section,
which he presently discovered No, it
was not his number. 1t was an uneven
number, and therefore on the side of the
car opposite TO his own. "And by the
way" ne exclaimed suddenly, otis Mr..
Smiths number, Pve fallen into MS
BERTH"
This discovery affected him oddly, rs
if he were the chosen instrument oF iaee
4 coat was dangling from q LOOK IN
front Of him. He thrust his hand INTO
the inside breast pocket, srd pulled out q
wallet and quantity n yapers. Some OF
the latter bore NJ smiths name upon
them. Sittirs down on the broken win
dow, 10 lspldly looked them over. The
United States bond was not among them;
nor was it in the wallet.
He put the things back in the pocket
and reflected. His reflections were cut
short by the fame OF the vesta, which had
burned down to his fingers. He blew it
out, and dragging himself up by the par
tition looked down the aisle of the car.
There was darkness, tumult and COnfus-
ion everywhere, and no sign of Mr.. Smith.
1t occurred to the detective that this gen
tIeman might have been killed; but the
idea gave him no pleasure, either person
ally or professionally. Mr.. Smith had
shown himself an agreeable fellow, and
he probably possessed some knowledge
which the detective would have liked to
share.
Sitting on the edge of the partition the
detective lit another vests aud looked
shout him. At length he cast his eyes
directly in front Of him, and there, still
wedged underneath the bed, was the
v2lise, probably the only article in the car
which had not been dislodged during the
smash-up. He reached forward and with
vigorous Jerk succeeded in getting it
out. The Key was still in the lock, Mr.
Smith, after taking out his night gown,
having forgotten to replace it in his
pocket.
The detective clambered down again to
his former position, sat down and opened
the vsIise. Itcontained a change of linen,
q pair Of trousers, q pair of slippers and
other odds and ends of q gentleman's
travelling wardrobe. There was not O
scrap Of paper of any kind IN it. The de-
teCtive closed the bag, locked it, and
sighed. What was the use of 8 railway
accident and of his falling into Mr..
Smiths section, if he were not to find the
bond after all?
He was Just about to start on an ex-
petition in search of Mr. Smith, when the
voice OF that gentleman himself saluted
his ears, and, looking up, he saw head
peering round the corner of the adjoining
section.
"Csn you tell me, sir" the head in
quired, "where l can find section No.
~"
"This is No 9. Do you belong here?"
81 believe so. l got bump on my
head when fell out, and don't know
what happened after that. I'm 8 little
mixed. Are my clothes there?"
"There are some clothes hanging to a
peg; and there's valise"
The head gave grunt, and there was
noise OF scratching and scrsmbling, fol-
lowed by the projection of Mr.. Smiths
entire body into the berth. He still wore
q nightgoWn, but his red silk nightcap
was gone, and there was q confusion on
his bald forehead as big as an oId-fash-
toned silver watch. He was evidently
somewhat dszed and dizzy, and after
standing unsteadily for a moment he
squatted down upon heap Of bedding.
~ wish they'd bring u light" he
said, in discouraged tone. chow cen
man ever find anything IN such black
hole as this?"
"I've got some wax matches here" re-
turned the detective politely. "Were you
looking for anything particular"
81 don't suppose there's any use hunt
Ing for it in this mess. By George, feel
pretty sick?" Here the detective lit his
third vests. Mr.. Smith blinked and stared
about him in q helpless way. 81 had
paper" ne said; "Tould you mind look
ing in the pocket of my coat there-n
there's anythingileft i it,"
what sort of paper was it," in
CURED the detective, SURPRISING tremor
of the voice. Anything especially vslu-
aole?"
"We!l it represented q considerable
value" Mr. Smith replied. The detective
felt the blood rush to his face. "You see,
had bond that bought yesterday" the
other went on, halting between his SEN
fences, "a United States $40 for a thou
saud-that Is five hundred"
at doesn't seem TO he here" ssid the
detective, handing the papers TO Mr..
Smith. SIS there sry ether place | could
look for you? L wouldn't easily be
lost"
"Oh, 1t was just slip of paper, you
know" Mr.. Smith observed, ''not more
than three or four inches long. Oh,
recollect now; put it in the pocket of
my wslstcoat. II you would kindly look
there"
"In the pocket of your wsistcost?
how could you get $40 bond into your
wsistcost pocket?"
ooh, it wasn't the bond itself, you
know it was the receipt"